religion

The world is seeing a resurgence of religious extremism at national, regional, and global levels, which renews the threat to many of the rights that should be achieved and concretised, such as equality of women, of citizens who belong to ethnic and religious minorities, and of sexual minorities. This report tackles the issues and challenges pertaining to the politicisation of religion and ethno-religious nationalism, and the diverse responses globally seeking to counter these. It explores … Continued

In Myanmar, most people practice Theravada Buddhism, which says life starts at conception. Still, studies suggest an estimated 250,000 Burmese women get illegal abortions each year. It’s a leading cause of maternal death in Myanmar. While contraceptives are available, they can be difficult to obtain, particularly for poor women and women living in rural areas.

Catholics for Choice has just launched a new multi-media campaign, Abortion in Good Faith, which tells the stories of Catholics across the United States who want accessible abortion care for everyone – no matter how much money they have, where they live or what they believe.

On 3 August, a Campaign member from CommonHealth in India wrote to say that a very disturbing article had appeared in The Hindu about women’s right to abortion having to be balanced against the right to life of the fetus. The article, entitled “A tricky debate on abortion”, was by K Kannan, former Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the same court that in 2015, rejected the plea of the father of a 14-year-old rape survivor to allow termination of her 24-week pregnancy (see Campaign newsletter, 3 August).

According to COPUA, women in Malawi seek abortions due to poverty and inability to support more children; the desire of young girls to remain in school; extra-marital pregnancy; partner insistence and parental insistence. Meanwhile, the United Methodist Church in Malawi has reversed its long-term stance that women should be allowed to have abortions, following a General Conference they attended in the USA.